14. April 22, 2011 was Good Friday, the beginning of the Easter
Long Weekend. The day started out miserable with overcast skies and wet
flurries, but the weather cleared to a beautiful sunny day by noon. With this
positive change in weather, I decided to take my Foreman ATV for a run in the
Goulds to test out the bike after its winter hibernation.

13. Earlier this winter I removed the damaged front rack support
and my custom bumper. I had planned to fabricate a new custom piece to replace
it, but have since decided to just replace the part with a new stock unit. In
the mean time, I bolted my badly damaged one back in place, fixed up the joins
with "Tech Steel Putty" (this is a cold weld putty, the gaps were too big and
metal rusted too thin to weld). This made the bike ride-able again until the new
parts arrive.

12. I also installed my new WARN synthetic winch rope kit, which
replaces my damaged, kinked, frayed steel cable with the latest technology in
winch cable. Its a nice light weight product that is safer if it breaks, doesn't
kink, and frayed ends wont tear up my hands.

11. I unloaded the bike on Ruby Line near the water pumping
station and headed West on the gravel road paralleling the Goulds Bypass
Highway. I turned right onto Cochrane pond road and tried to navigate through
the deep snow. My bike sank in ruts created by previous riders trying to cross
this mess, but I managed to carefully reverse without getting stuck.

10. At this
time I decided to air down my 27" Mud Lite XTR tires for better traction on
snowy trails leaving 3 PSI in front and only 2 PSI in the rear. This made a huge
difference and the bike now stayed on top of the snow.

9. Leaving Cochrane Pond Road, I continued West on the tractor
road crossed Power's Road and paused at the 4 way stop. Here I turned right and
headed straight in the road to the very last field to check the conditions of
the trails heading into the woods. The trails from this field were heavily
snowed in and had not been traversed by ATV, being alone I decided not to chance
going in and getting badly stuck. I headed to the next field East where there
are two trails that cross over to Northern Pond Road.

8. The first trail crosses a
large marsh which still snow covered and flooded with winter water run off, a
bad choice for the solo ATV'er. The other trail leads through the woods,
crossing a boggy/muddy/stumpy area, then continues to the back of Northern Pond
Road. When crossing the boggy area I chose a trail that circled well to the
right which bypassed the worst of the flooded area and was easily passable.

7. The
trail on the opposite side of the bog was heavily snow covered and had not been
travelled by ATV, but with lots of trees to use as a winch anchor I decided
to continue on. With my tires aired down, and maintaining high engine RPM in
3rd gear I rode out the trail with little trouble in 4wd. This is where great tires,
a locked front differential, and quick reaction time make the difference in
riding or stuck.

6. I cruised all of the roads in Northern Pond, in as far as the
old Logging Camp, then in the next road to Joyce's trail and eventually back out
to the Highway. Northern Pond Road from the sod farm to the TCH is easily
travelled by car or truck.

5. The smaller side roads were still very snow covered,
but I had no trouble crossing them maintaining RPM and good speed. Next I headed
in a side road heading West to the Foxtrap Pasture Lands. There was a lot of standing
water on this path, as well on the fields.

4. Pasture Land Road from the fields to
the highway had been plowed and was easily travelled by car or truck. Next I
headed back to Northern Pond Road, and crossed over to Chicken Farm Road, having to
switch to reserve tank part way across. This was after about 3 hours of riding.

3. I spent the last hour and final 1/4 tank of gas exploring the
roads in the Goulds scouting locations for Coyote hunting, and how accessible
they would be by truck given the mud/snow conditions. I also checked out the
path to the dam at Bay Bulls Big Pond and was surprised to see how high the
water level was in the lake.

2. I've never seen it so high in all my years going in there, they
must have the height of the dams raised, as it was higher then normal the
previous fall as well.

1. It was certainly an awesome afternoon's ride. In four hours
of constant riding, I only stopped for a break twice and managed to burn a tank
of gas nearly completely dry. I attribute this higher then normal gas
consumption to extra RPM used on snow covered trails, soft mud, and marsh.
Next time I'll be sure to strap on extra fuel!